Publication: Using New Data to Support Tax Treaty Negotiation
Date
2021-07-12
ISSN
Published
2021-07-12
Author(s)
World Bank
Abstract
This paper introduces the new Tax
Treaties Explorer dataset, developed with support from the
World Bank and the G-24, and illustrates its use for
research by tax treaty negotiators, policy makers, and
researchers. The new dataset provides a rich source of data
to reexamine existing tax treaty policy, inform negotiation
positions, and assess treaty networks. For the first time,
it provides a tool to analyze trends in the content of tax
treaties, across individual agreements, over time, and
between countries. To illustrate the value of such an
approach, we replicate a study by Barthel, Busse, and
Neumayer (2009), which found a positive association between
the presence of a tax treaty and the bilateral stock of FDI.
We show that this effect is mainly driven by the withholding
tax rates in the treaty rather than by other provisions
affecting taxing rights such as permanent establishment. If
the outcomes of this proof-of-concept replication are borne
out in future research, this would suggest that negotiators
can seek the maximum protection of source taxing rights in
other parts of the treaty, knowing that this is unlikely to
dilute investment-promoting impacts.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2021. Using New Data to Support Tax Treaty Negotiation. Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Insight;. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35992 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”